Settlement Patterns And Subsistence Strategies In Jiaodong Peninsula During Early Dawenkou Culture

Recently, the study of social complexity process or origin of civilization has attracted more and more foci in archaeology field. Most of them concentrate on the hierarchy, reconstruction of society organization and size, political system. subsistence strategy, trading and religion, and the like. However, the study related to the burgeoning period before the society complexity is far away to be enough. Therefore, the main purpose of this dissertation is to explore the condition of society and subsistence strategy during this time.Jiaodong Peninsula is one of the most important parts which constitute the region of Haidai Culture. Meanwhile, relatively isolation from another region makes Jiaodong Peninsula formulate distinctive features in culture and customs as an independent geographic element. Besides, it is the thoroughfare which connects Haidai region and Liaodong Peninsula for culture communication. Chronologically, it was the booming time from shell midden period, or late period of Beixin culture, to early period of Dawenkou culture in this area, during when the residents lived the most equal lives. However, the culture declined dramatically when it developed into the middle period of Dawenkou period. Fortunately, the systematic excavations and surveys regarding to the shell midden sites and kinds of subsistence resources of this area offered us with abundant basic data. The data facilitates us to research on the equal society in this area during the pre-complexity period.Theories should always be the forerunners of practice. So to begin with, the dissertation sets the main references of the theories and methodologies. In this thesis, I suppose to analyze the society conditions of Jiaodong Peninsula during the Dawenkou period by combination study of settlement and subsistence strategy. Settlement archaeology is one of the major methods in studying the ancient social organization and social relationships. In the thesis, I will explore the overall situation of the social organization and social structure chronologically by using the settlement analyzing methods, including micro and macro sights. In the micro analysis of settlement patterns, I will reconstruct the social organization and social structure to some extent by household pattern and built environment as the dominant methods for analyzing, based on the analysis of the house residues of the sites. While, the macro analysis on settlement patterns will be conducted on the basis of the divide of the settlement groups and the results of the site catchment analysis survey to explore the economic connections as well as the cultural communication among sites.The dominant methods in subsistence economic research are interdisciplines, combining zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, stable isotope analysis of human/animal remains and pottery residues, experimental archaeology and so on. By using these methods,I will explore the overall situation of the Jiaodong Peninsula during the Dawenkou period based on the analysis of individual examples.This dissertation contains parts as following:Chapter one, Introduction. To illustrate the purpose of the thesis and the reasons for theme selecting, introduce to the related theories and methodology.Chapter two. Environment and archaeological background, which refers to environment and archaeology study brief history. To begin with the modern and Holocene environment introduction and the summarize of the sea level in Holocene Megathermal period research. Then the systematically retrospect about the brief history of Neolithic study in Jiaodong Peninsula and the simple introduction of the culture chronology.Chapter three, Studies of micro settlement patterns in Jiaodong Peninsula. In this chapter, Beizhuang site of Changdao Island, Beiqian site of Jimo, Bai Shicun site of Yantai, Gu Zhendu site of Qixia and Dong Gao site of Longkou will be examined to explore the settlement pattern and social organization, especially to the first two sites. After the analysis, it is clear that arrangement within the site was arranged deliberately. In ordinary, a settlement can be divided in to two parts-living area and burial area, between which distributed a space to separate them from each other. And the living area comprised several living centers. Single houses, compound houses, living centers with related remains and overall settlement constituted the four levels of a settlement. Each of them probably represented household, family came from households, clan from the combination of families and the whole community organization. Household was the basic element during the early period of Dawenkou culture, while in this period, household, which constituted by core families and extent families, has become the social element for consuming, living, and raising their posterities, remaining away from the realm of production organization. The whole society was comprised of four levels social organization-household, families came from union of households, community of families, and county. In this organization system, the relationship among levels represents a mode of equality and decreasing connection, which belongs to the typical segmentary society.Chapter four. Studies of macro settlement patterns in Jiaodong peninsula. In this chapter, it contains three parts which refer to the distribution and districts of settlement sites, economic communication among settlements, and social relationship as well as cultural communication within the settlement districts. From late period of Beixin culture to early period of Dawenkou culture, the settlement sites of Jiaodong Peninsula could be divided into five settlement districts, in which can be further divided into several groups of settlements that constituted by series of adjacent sites. Besides, single settlement site-group of settlements, district of settlement groups were the major components of society in which contained at least three levels during this period. The economic communication among settlements is analyzed on the basis of site catchment analysis survey. We found three types of site exploitation after surveying tens of sites of Dingziwan Bay area. They were conducted along the coastline, rivers and hilly valleys. And most of the sites belong to the self-sufficient economic style. Moreover, most of them could get enough resources to maintain their daily lives just in half an hour from surroundings.Despite the self-sufficient subsistence mode, settlement groups were never lack of communication. The identification results of stone sources illustrated that there was a way through which the stone resources exchange. Meanwhile, the transmission of jade can also demonstrate the existence of the communication within the peninsula. In this period, the closest connection and the most active communication were held by sites within a group, following the relationship among groups, and the last was the interior of the whole culture district. On the basis of the geographic and topographic analysis toward the Jiaodong Peninsula and exist sites, we consider that there are at least three North-Southern communication routes in the Jiaodong Peninsula during the early Dawenkou period.Chapter five. Studies of Subsistence strategy in Shellmiddens. It contains two parts, including the individual case analysis of Beiqian site and the general investigation of shell middens in Jiaodong Peninsula. Beiqian site, a site of early Dawenkou period, has been excavated systematically in three seasons. Amount of animal and botany residues and human remains have been collected during the excavation. In this chapter, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of skeletal collagen and potsherds residues have been conducted to recover the subsistence strategy of Beiqian site. Through these analyses, we propose that millet-dominant agriculture system had has been formed in Beiqian site, even though the activations of uncultivated plant and nuts gathering were still existed. The major meat sources were from mollusk and vertebral animals. And terrestrial mammals were the major meat source, while the mollusk and shellfish are the daily sources of the protein. With the development of the site, the rate of C4plants and terrestrial animals consumption increasing, while the sea food decreasing over time.On the basis of the Beiqian site analysis, I explored the general investgation of subsistence strategy in Jiaodong Peninsula. From the data, it can be demonstrated that the subsistence of shell midden sites in Jiaodong Peninsula was the ternary structure with mollusk, vertebral animals and plants as the three equal important elements, but the ratio of each element was varies over time. The ratio of mollusk consumption represents a tendency from stabilizing to booming and finally decline, while the ratio of vertebral animals increasing steadily, and finally the domestic pig became the constant major meat source. That is probably the reason why shell midden sites once prevailed declined gradually.Conclusion. Concluded the contents of the thesis and illustrate the major viewpoints. List of tables and charts. Including the statistic table of sites from Jiaodong Peninsula in early Dawenkou period, photographies of pottery residue analysis and cooking experiments.